The Problem It Solves

In English, "I cut my hair" is ambiguous — did you do it yourself, or did a hairdresser do it? French does not allow that ambiguity. To say someone arranged for or caused an action to happen, rather than doing it themselves, French uses a specific structure called the faire causatif (causative "faire").

The Basic Structure

The pattern is: sujet + faire (conjugated) + infinitif + [le reste de la phrase]. The conjugated verb is always a form of faire, and it's immediately followed by the infinitive of the action that's actually happening.

Je fais couper mes cheveux. (I'm having my hair cut — a hairdresser does it.)
Elle fait réparer sa voiture. (She's having her car repaired.)
Nous faisons construire une maison. (We're having a house built.)

Compare that to the non-causative version, which means you're doing the action yourself: Je coupe mes cheveux means you personally are cutting your own hair — probably with scissors, at home, and not very well.

Naming Who Does the Action: "Par" or Indirect Object

If you want to specify who performs the action, add par + person at the end of the sentence, or use an indirect object pronoun:

Je fais réparer ma voiture par un mécanicien. (I'm having my car repaired by a mechanic.)
Je lui fais réparer ma voiture. (I'm having him/her repair my car — "lui" replaces "par le mécanicien.")

Faire Causatif with Pronouns

When you replace the object with a pronoun, it goes before the conjugated form of faire, not before the infinitive — this trips up a lot of learners who expect the pronoun to sit next to the verb it "belongs" to.

Je fais réparer ma voiture. → Je la fais réparer. (I'm having it repaired.)
Il a fait faire le travail. → Il l'a fait faire. (He had it done.)

In the passé composé, note that the past participle fait never agrees with a preceding direct object in this construction — a special exception to the usual agreement rule. Il l'a fait faire, never Il l'a faite faire, even if "la voiture" is feminine.

Se Faire: When the Action Happens To You

Adding a reflexive pronoun creates se faire + infinitif, used when the subject is the one affected by the action (often something happening to them, sometimes unwillingly):

Je me fais couper les cheveux. (I'm getting my hair cut — very common, slightly more personal than "je fais couper mes cheveux.")
Il s'est fait voler son téléphone. (He got his phone stolen / had his phone stolen — an unfortunate, unwanted event.)
Elle s'est fait renvoyer. (She got fired.)

Se faire is especially common for talking about things that happen to you passively or negatively — getting robbed, fired, tricked, or injured — where English often uses a passive construction ("she got fired") rather than naming who did it.

Faire vs. Laisser: A Related Trap

Don't confuse faire + infinitif (to cause/have something done) with laisser + infinitif (to let/allow something to happen). They follow the same grammatical pattern but mean very different things:

Je fais partir mon employé. (I'm having my employee leave / I'm dismissing him — I caused it.)
Je laisse partir mon employé. (I'm letting my employee leave — I'm simply permitting it.)

More Everyday Examples

The faire causatif shows up constantly in daily-life conversations about services, chores, and errands. Here are a few more patterns you'll hear and need often:

Le professeur fait réviser les étudiants avant l'examen. (The teacher has the students review before the exam.)
Nous avons fait livrer les meubles. (We had the furniture delivered.)
Ça me fait rire. (That makes me laugh — a very common causative expression with everyday emotions.)
Cette nouvelle l'a fait pleurer. (That news made her/him cry.)

Notice that "faire + infinitif" also covers emotional causes in French where English uses "make" — faire rire (make laugh), faire pleurer (make cry), faire peur (scare, literally "make fear"). These are excellent phrases to have ready for TCF/TEF speaking tasks about personal experiences.

Quick Self-Check

Before using faire + infinitif, ask yourself: did the subject perform the action themselves, or did they arrange for someone else to do it? If someone else did the physical action, the causative is required. Try translating these mentally: "I'm painting my room" (je peins ma chambre — you're doing it) versus "I'm having my room painted" (je fais peindre ma chambre — a painter is doing it). Keeping this distinction sharp will prevent one of the most common comprehension gaps at the B1/B2 level.

Bottom Line

Whenever you didn't personally perform an action but arranged, caused, or paid for it to happen, reach for faire + infinitif. Use se faire + infinitif when the action happens to you. Keep the infinitive directly after the conjugated "faire," and remember that object pronouns jump in front of "faire," not the infinitive. This structure appears constantly in everyday spoken French — hairdressers, mechanics, and repairs are some of its favorite topics.

Want to practice constructions like this out loud? Explore our French learning parcours for guided speaking practice.

The Faire Causatif: How to Say 'I Had Something Done' in French